By Ryan Jones
Nov 24, 2005
In statements bordering on sanctioning acts of aggression against Israel by Lebanese citizens, Beirut Thursday warned Israel to return the bodies of three Hizb'allah terrorists, or else.
The Hizb'allah men were killed during a failed large-scale assault on Israel's northern border Monday, during which a select group of terrorists crossed the international boundary and attempted to kidnap Israeli soldiers.
Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora told reporters in Qatar that the deceased terrorists were ?resistance fighters who fell as martyrs,? and demanded Israel hand over the corpses.
Cabinet minister Mohammed Jawad Khalife told Voice of Lebanon radio, ?It is known that [Hizb'allah] will try to secure the return of the bodies one way or another, and this usually ends up in negotiations to trade them for the bodies of Israeli soldiers or for prisoners.?
Khalife did not say Beirut would act in any way to prevent Hizb'allah from taking such action.
Instead, he told Israel the bodies ?must be handed over in order to avoid an escalation.?
The IDF Thursday morning denied a Radio Monte Carlo report it had already agreed to return the bodies.
Outside of support from its own government, Hizb'allah is being actively spurred by Syria to escalate tensions on Israel's northern border, IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz said Wednesday.
?Hizb'allah is motivated to carry on heating up the border,? Halutz said.
Its terrorists were ?enjoying a Syrian push as Damascus is trying to divert attention? away from next month's release of a United Nations report on the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.
Meanwhile, The Jerusalem Post reported Thursday that a 38-year-old Israeli Arab from Nazareth has been indicted on charges of aiding the Hizb?allah in its terror war against Israel.
The man, who was arrested earlier this month by Israel?s Internal Security Services (the Shin Bet) and police, reportedly confessed to being drafted into the Iranian-backed Lebanese terror group while on a visit to South Africa last July.
The Shin Bet had noted, said the Post, that since the IDF left Lebanon in 2000, the Hizb?allah had intensified efforts to recruit Israeli Arabs to help compile information that would aid the group carry out its attacks.